Glenfern Villas Franz Josef

... no thanks! They gave us another option of just taking a helicoper flight over the glacier which would take about 12 mins and cost around 70 euro - I was in doubt at first but when Ror and Niamh wanted to do it I said I would go too as I didn't want to be left behind and miss out! We got into the chopper with another couple and I sat in the front which was a cool view beacuse I had windows down by my feet aswell. We took off up towards the ...

... a absolutely lovely day. I was grinning from ear to ear..

And day two in Franz admist the moutains and hills brought quite bit of rain. I didn't plan on doing too much. I wanted a day to gather myself, lay low as my go-go schedule was catching up with me and i thought what a great place to do so...where i feel relaxed and comfortable, in the hostel and the lovely village. The rain was also a good excuse as well...so i just ...

... Swiss cheese, avocado and tomato). We decided to pass on the delicacies and instead tended to the animals caged outside. We fed a deer, met our first marsupial and Eric learnt what a goat looks like –he kept confusing them with alpacas.

The bus rides are not all that bad; they provide hours of much needed relaxation and reveal undeniably gorgeous scenery. It must be said that this country is ****ing beautiful ...

... on top it had begun to snow lightly (just snow drift as the snow from the mountains was being blown over us).
There were some places where ice climbers had chain-sawed out staircases through the ice for us which were really cool because as you climbed through them we felt as it we were in it! The glacier was gorgeous but hugely tempestuous - the ice moves everyday and there are huge caverns and ...

... some fantastic scenery. I stopped at Hokitaki for petrol as its difficult to know when the next garage will be around. About one pm and hungry I happened to drive past Lake Ianthe, which was a good place to stop for my picnic, very peaceful and a couple of other travellers doing the same. I reached Franz Josef Glacier township and booked into the Glow Work backpackers , a very nice self-contained ensuite room, bliss for a couple of ...

... of ice fell into the glacier river below. The further up the glacier you go the more spectacular the views. We could see the entire valley and the greens/browns of autumn contrasted with the white ice of the glacier and the clear blue skies and splitting orange sun. As we were in the first group, the so called advanced group, our guide Kevin took us through new terrain dissecting the glacier and scaling through crevasses and curtains of ice. It was ...

We began our adventure in the Glacier Country of NZ at Fox Glacier. Stayed in a bare bones cabin near the glacier and went to see it on the day we arrived. Beautiful and we were lucky to have a clear day. We signed up to do a full day hike at Franz Joseph Glacier just 15 miles and 45 minutes down the road the next day. We awoke to rain but went on to the hike despite the weather ...